National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum or the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum was the 11th most-visited museum in the Netherlands in 2013. This building has a massive history starting from around 1590, continuing through 1972 when it was turned into a museum. There are several exhibitions in the North, East and West Wing with an audio tour, taking almost about an hour. The museum has a collection of about four lakh objects including ships models, half models, technical models, scale models, technical drawings, water crafts, ship parts that elaborate on the Netherlands’ maritime history. There are about 800 maritime paintings, 5000 graphic items such as ship portraits, flag charts, 3000 drawings of destinations, events and ships, about 120 ship decorations, 300 flags and pennants and a huge collection of photographs and videos. It also houses a maritime library that is open every Thursday from 9:30 AM to 5 PM, while the museum is open from 9 AM to 5 PM.